


Well Met

by CallMeBombshell



Category: Battlestar Galactica
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-03
Updated: 2009-12-03
Packaged: 2017-10-15 17:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/163308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallMeBombshell/pseuds/CallMeBombshell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of when Kara met Karl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Well Met

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on my computer, exactly as it is, for AGES. I always felt like it seemed half-finished, but every time I'd go to write some more, I'd just end up deleting everything I'd written. Maybe this fic thinks it's done. Maybe I'll write a sequel someday. Who knows. At any rate, I liek it, and I figured it had sat around for long enough and it was time to post it :D

The first time Kara meets Helo, she's stuck in hack. It's the third time since entering flight school after her godsdamned knee kept her out of the pros, and Kara's still pissed enough that when two of the guys from her unit laughed when they heard she'd tried out, she'd seen fit to shown them her moves. A broken nose and two dislocated shoulders later and Kara is looking through bars with not a hint of an apology on her lips.

The guard on duty is familiar with Kara; it isn't the first time they've chatted from opposite sides of the bars. Sargeant Miller was a nice enough sort, as jailers go, and Kara much preferred him to Sargeant Olgart, the other guard who she'd had the misfortune of being saddled with on her first visit to the brig. This time they're talking adrenaline: on Kara's side, the thrill of the dogfight; on Miller's, the stealth op. It's a recurring discussion, left off from Kara's last incarceration, when she'd been thrown in for talking down her squad leader as not having enough balls for the job. Miller had taken pity on her and come down for a quick chat and to let her know the rest of her squad had backed her up.

"I'm not saying a good op isn't a thrill," Kara says now, slouching against the bars and waving a hand vaguely. "I'm just saying you've got no idea what it's like being in the air like that, seeing the world spinning around you, feeling the Gs pressing you back, that drumroll when you fire your gun... it's _electric_."

Miller shakes his head, bemused. "See, that's what you don't get. You're all high-octane excitement and danger and blah blah blah. There's better stuff out there, Starbuck!"

Kara snorts a laugh, cracks a smile. "Oh yeah, like what?"

"How about flying Raptors?"

The new voice is mellow and amused, and Kara turns to stare interestedly at the man standing in the doorway. The newcomer is tall and strongly built, a huge, finely wrought specemin with quick dark eyes and a mouth made for laughing. The stick of a lollipop pokes out from the corner and Kara thinks idly that maybe his mouth is made for other thinks as well. He knows her, probably by reputation; Kara can see it in the way he looks at her and says, "So, you're Starbuck?"

Kara hoists herself up and props one hand on her hips, the other hand wrapped around a bar and looks at the newcomer with an appraising eye. "Yeah, that's right. Who're you?"

The stranger grins. "Karl Agathon," he says, nodding to her. "My squad calls me Helo, though."

"Helo, huh? You come for the show?" Kara feels the lazy grin on her face and knows Miller must be cracking up at his desk in the corner; it's not the first time Kara's had some starry-eyed rook come to goggle at her in the brig where they can be relatively certain of the bars keeping the infamous Starbuck from hurting them for the chance. But something about Helo doesn't fit with the usual lookeeloos who come visit. It's something in the way he smiles like they're already friends and they haven't only just met.

"Actually," Helo says, popping the lollipop out of his mouth and gesturing at Kara with it, "I've come to spring you."

"Is that so?" Kara raises her eyebrows, disbelieving. "You're no officer, how'd you get that kind of pull?"

Helo raises his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, I'm just the messenger. Major Corrack got it into his head that you might need a few weeks break from the Viper squad so Michaelson and Grosvenor have time to heal before you get a shot at 'em again."

"A few weeks break," Kara repeats, cocking an eyebrow. "Doing what?"

Helo grins. "Ever flown a Raptor before?"  



End file.
